Officials are probing how a 51-year-old highway bridge came to collapse in the Italian port city of Genoa yesterday, killing at least 26 people and injuring 16 others as it sent dozens of vehicles tumbling into a heap of concrete and twisted steel.

Canadian religious-sect leader found guilty of practising polygamy after 24 wives were discovered

A Canadian religious-sect leader with 24 wives has been found guilty of practising polygamy after a decades-long legal fight.

Winston Blackmore, the former bishop of a breakaway Mormon sect, was found guilty alongside his former brother-in-law James Oler, 53, who had five wives.

The duo were both charged with one count of polygamy and now face up two five years in prison.

Justice Sheri Ann Donegan said Monday the evidence proves Blackmore has been a practising member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), a breakaway Mormon sect that believes in plural marriage, reports the Vancouver Sun.

“His adherence to the practices and beliefs of the FLDS is not in dispute,” she said.

“Mr Blackmore … would not deny his faith in his 2009 statement to police. He spoke openly about his practice of polygamy.”

Blackmore and Oler are from Bountiful in southeastern British Columbia, a religious community of about 1,500 people founded in 1946.

Blackmore was excommunicated from the FLDS in 2002 and replaced by Mr Oler.

The landmark ruling is considered a test of the boundaries of religious freedom in Canada.

Polygamy is illegal in Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police first began investigating the Bountiful sect in the 1990s however attempts to bring the case to trial stumbled over a lack of legal clarity.

In 2011, the British Columbia Supreme Court upheld Canada's anti-polygamy law as constitutional following a request from British Columbia’s government for a ruling on the issue.

It said the law was a reasonable restriction on religious freedoms in Canada.

The men were first charged in 2009 and were charged in 2014 for the second time with practising polygamy.

Blackmore's lawyer, Blair Suffredine, told the court he planned to launch a challenge to the anti-polygamy laws should his client be found guilty. Both Blackmore and Oler remain out on bail.

Legal experts have suggested the case is likely to eventually end up in the Supreme Court of Canada.

The mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is based in Utah, officially renounced polygamy in the late 19th century and disputes any connection to the fundamentalist group’s form of Mormonism.